


What We Choose

by swaps55



Series: Opus - The Multiverse [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27736753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swaps55/pseuds/swaps55
Summary: They were always going to come around to each other. It was just a question of when.Friends to lovers prompts, Sam Shepard & Kaidan Alenko. AKA, peak dumbasses obliviously in love.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Series: Opus - The Multiverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006281
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	What We Choose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Practice Kissing. 
> 
> …have a little mini-AU from [Sonata](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23861833/chapters/57354757). I picked up from where they practice hand holding and just…extended the scene a little. ;)

“For the record,” Shepard informs him, “there’s no way you’ve saved my ass forty-eight times.”

“You’re right,” Kaidan agrees. “It’s definitely higher than that. Come on, let’s go.”

He heads for the entrance to his parents’ building. But a couple of meters from the lobby door it’s Shepard’s turn to hesitate. Kaidan looks back over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. “Are _you_ having second thoughts?”

They're about to go walk into his parents' condo as a fake couple. One of them should probably have a few.

Shepard crosses his arms, brow furrowing, and rocks back on his heels. “Not a second thought. But. _A_ thought.”

Kaidan’s eyebrow arches higher. Whatever the _thought_ is, it’s under his skin now, and knowing Shepard, it’ll be hell getting it out. “That sounds serious.”

The furrows deepen.

 _Stop thinking it’s cute_.

“What if they expect us to kiss?”

Kaidan nearly chokes. “Why would they expect _that_ kind of PDA?”

Shepard shrugs, consternation growing while Kaidan stares at him, a little dumbfounded.

 _Kiss_ Shepard? Hell. Kaidan had been trying to talk himself out of a tree over a little hand holding. But _kissing_ him?

“No one’s going to expect you to kiss me,” Kaidan says, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Yeah, that’s what the _current_ mission parameters say,” Shepard argues. “How many times have we gotten through a combat drop without changed mission parameters?”

“Changed _mission_ parameters? We’re talking about dinner with my parents, not infiltrating a merc stronghold.”

Shepard scowls. Yup. That _thought_ is under his skin all right.

Bringing the rachni back from the dead? No sweat. Finding a mind-controlling plant monster? All part of a day’s work. Oh, genocidal AI trying to end life as they know it? That had just pissed Shepard off. Kissing his best friend? Total panic.

It actually…stings a little.

“Shepard, you do not have to kiss me,” Kaidan says with a sigh. “That’s not part of the deal.” _Thank god._ It might actually be the end of him if it was.

“Kissing _you_ isn’t what I’m worried about,” Shepard mutters.

“Okay I don’t get it. What’s going on?”

Shepard starts to pace, getting more agitated by the second.

“Look,” Kaidan says, baffled now. “We can call this whole thing off if you—”

“It’s been a long time since I kissed someone,” Shepard says, coming to an abrupt halt and planting his feet, as though he’s finally identified his foe and decided CQC was his best option.

Kaidan blinks. “Okay. Um.”

Shepard crosses his arms again, defiantly now. “I don’t enjoy it. I find it boring and weird, so I don’t kiss people.”

“Then don’t… _kiss_ me,” Kaidan says, shrugging off a sense of disappointment. So Shepard doesn’t enjoy kissing people. It’s not like Kaidan is eager to see him kiss _other_ people.

The gravity well shifts as Shepard toys with it, worrying dark energy into invisible knots like it’s a loose thread.

“Hey,” Kaidan says, softer this time. “What happened to ‘we’re pretty good at you and me?’”

Shepard huffs and jabs at the sidewalk with his toe. “We are. That’s the problem, I guess. You and I are good, but. _I’m_ not…good. At _that_.”

“Kissing people.”

“Yeah.”

Kaidan swallows. “So you’re saying that now that we’ve mastered hand holding, you want to give kissing a go. To make sure we don’t fuck it up.”

He shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe.”

Along with his suddenly dry throat, Kaidan’s heart starts to pound. “Um.”

“Forget it.” Shepard sets his jaw and strides past Kaidan, through the door of the condo building and into the lobby. Kaidan almost has to jog to keep up.

“Wait a damn minute,” Kaidan says, still trying to wrap his head around how spectacularly this has gone wrong in the space of about a minute. “You’re _pissed_ at me.”

Shepard looks left and right for an elevator. Kaidan heads left and goes straight to it, nearly running into a gentleman who’d just gotten off one. The door slides closed before they can get on it.

“Are we really going to go up there and pretend to date in front of my parents with you _pissed_ at me?” Kaidan asks.

“I’m not pissed at you,” Shepard says, smacking the elevator call button with his fist and continuing to pace while they wait for it. “I’m inventing a problem and getting bent out of shape about it.”

In spite of himself, a small smile curves Kaidan’s lips. “You’re afraid you’re going to be a bad kisser. Even though there is no conceivable scenario in which you’ll be expected to prove you’re my boyfriend by making out with me in front of my parents.”

“See?” Shepard says as the elevator doors open. “You get me.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“An idiot who saved the goddamned galaxy.”

“With a few other idiots as backup.”

The elevator door slides closed when they step inside. Kaidan jabs the button to the 18th floor, shaking his head in bemusement.

Shepard scowls at him as the elevator begins its ascent. “You’d be taking me a lot more seriously if I was worried about my aim.”

“Correct,” Kaidan agrees. “I would be.”

“Well damn, the truth hurts, I guess. I just opened up and shared this massive insecurity I have and here you are—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Kaidan doesn’t give either of them a chance to think. He just _acts,_ reaching across the elevator cabin and grabbing Shepard by the front of his uniform. Shepard’s eyes widen as Kaidan closes the gap between them with one swift yank.

This isn’t like that moment on the _Normandy’s_ crew deck during the lockdown. There is no ‘almost,’ this time, no hovering mere centimeters apart, staring at Shepard’s lips and wondering what they would feel like against his.

He doesn’t have to wonder anymore because they _are_ against his.

It’s clumsy. Awkward. How could it _not_ be, with Shepard flailing just to stay on his feet. Warning bells go off in Kaidan’s head, but they’re both in it now, and he’s going to see it through if for no other reason than pure spite.

 _Bad at kissing, my ass_.

Okay, there’s some truth to it. At first. Shepard’s lips move over Kaidan’s like he’s trying to stick the wrong side of an OSD into the slot, tentative and unsure. But then something _happens_ , like an electric shock through Kaidan’s system.

They’ve shocked each other hundreds, maybe _thousands_ of times over the years. Two biotics sharing the same space make it practically routine. But this time that static shock gets under his skin and stays there, low and humming, their biotic fields intersecting with an intensity they haven’t quite shared before. Kaidan inhales sharply as Shepard’s mouth settles against his like it belongs there, like it _fits_ , kissing him back with an urgency that’s nothing short of alarming. And _exhilarating._

They’re about five floors from their destination when Kaidan’s better judgement finally kicks in and he releases his grip on Shepard’s uniform, shoving him gently, reluctantly, away. Silence hangs between them as they catch their breath.

No. Not silence. Kaidan’s heart is pounding so loud he’s positive his parents can hear it from here.

“See?” Kaidan manages when he can get enough air back in his lungs. “You’re fine.”

Shepard draws in a shaky breath. “Yeah. Ok. Good. We’re good.”

“Boring anyway, right?”

“Yeah,” Shepard says, wetting his lips. “Never saw the point of kissing someone.”

The elevator chimes as it comes to a halt, and the door slides open. They stare at each other. It’s only when the elevator starts to close that Kaidan shoots a hand out to block it.

“They’re waiting for us,” Kaidan says. Fuck, they’re still so _close_ to each other.

“Right. Yup.” Shepard’s eyes drift back to Kaidan’s mouth before he straightens and walks out of the elevator, tugging at the front of his uniform to smooth out the wrinkles left by Kaidan’s hand. Kaidan exhales slowly before following him. His parents’ door looms just down the hall and to the left.

Kaidan’s lips still tingle, Shepard’s invisible current lingering long enough that it takes every ounce of restraint he has not to spin Shepard around and do it again.

Fuck, he’d give _anything_ to do it again.

_What were you thinking?_

That wasn’t blurring lines. That was plowing right through them with a shotgun. That’s Shepard’s MO, not Kaidan’s.

Four days. They’re going to put on this ruse for four days?

 _Fuck_.

Shepard glances at him when they come to a stop in front of #1822, uncertain smile on his face. “Ready for this?”

No. No way in hell.

“Yeah,” Kaidan says, swallowing and pressing the door chime. “I’m ready.”


End file.
